WSJ:  Trump Is Obsessed With These $145 Shoes—and Won’t Let Anyone Leave Without a Pair

WSJ:  Trump Is Obsessed With These $145 Shoes—and Won’t Let Anyone Leave Without a Pair

“Today I’m in the Oval Office with the president,” Vance recalled to party goers. “And we’re talking about something really, really important. And the president kind of holds up his hand and says, ‘No, no, hold on a second, there’s something much more important.’

“He peers over the resolute desk, and he says, ‘Marco, JD, you guys have shitty shoes,” Vance said. “We got to get you better shoes.’ So he goes out and grabs a catalog.”

“The president is giving us four pairs of shoes,” Vance recalled. “And he’s actually asking our sizes in the middle of this conversation.”

It’s imposing for the big boss to buy shoes for his staff, but to be fair, a lot of guys do have shitty shoes.

A CEO wants his executives to look professional.  A man who has been successful in business, entertainment, and politics, would have thoughts on style and image. 

“Style is being yourself, on purpose.”

That practical quote is worth thinking about.  Everybody has an image, or brand.  You can’t opt out, so you may as well take the time to think about it.  Some people know this instinctively or picked it up from fancy parents.

The easy way is to dress like everyone else.  For high school boys, that might be blue jeans, t-shirt or polo and a backpack.  The kid wearing sweat pants and pulling a carry-on bag was picked on or avoided.

When I became an engineer for Caterpillar, I had to step up.  My colleague, Don, was from Chagrin Falls and had gone to University of Vermont.  He was fancy. 

I learned to buy white or blue Oxford button-downs from Lands’ End.  Short-sleeves were acceptable for engineers.  Since we went into factories, Dockers were fine.  For corporate meetings, get some suits from Joseph Banks and ties from Ticknors.

Don’s advice was to buy the best shoes you can afford, use cedar shoe trees and buy two pair so the shoes can air out for a day.  That was good, because engineers neglect their shoes.

I went through an exploratory phase.  At some factories, steel-toed shoes were required.  I found that Red Wing shoes weren’t comfortable.  On the other end, I had a pair of blue leather crepe-soled shoes that were ridiculous. 

With new leather-soled shoes, I’d stand on the balls of my feet on concrete and spin around to scuff the soles for traction.  Go to the cobbler, which we had in Cleveland Heights, to get plastic cleats on the heel and to get the shoes re-soled when necessary.

When I did my classroom observations to become a teacher, the AP Calc teacher at Cleveland Heights looked like Conan the Barbarian.  He taught AP Calc, and for the last six years, every student got a 5 on the AP test.  Of all the Black kids in Ohio that got a 5 on the AP Calc test, 20% were his students.  It was in the Plain Dealer.

Jim was a big, muscle-bound fella with shaggy hair.  He wore pocket t-shirts and blue jeans.  At the end of my time with him, I asked him about his choice in apparel.  He said that he wanted to project the idea that smart people can look any kind of way.  Jim was refuting the smart nerd stereotype.

When I started teaching at Normandy, I understood the idea of having an image or brand.  Jim’s Conan the Calc Barbarian was out, so I went with distracted engineer.  The brand has to be coherent and comfortable.

Clothing for men is easier.  Lands’ End blue or white long-sleeved Oxford button-down, khaki Dockers, fancy socks and a tie.  The collar was unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up to signal that I had shit to do.  Rumpled, but not wrinkled, with all the elements to indicate distracted engineer or nutty professor.

It was comfortable and so easy, it was almost a uniform.  I eventually branched out to subtle colors or patterns for the shirt and Jerry Garcia ties.

By this point, I was done with leather-soled loafers.  Nunn-Bush black or brown cap-toed Oxfords with synthetic soles look like a fella cares about good shoes, but they are under a hundred bucks per pair.  Use cedar shoe trees and shine ’em up.

Teachers are worse than engineers for choosing shoes.  Young guys who want to be taken seriously, will dress professionally, but look at their shoes.  Did they get those at Payless?  Did you buy elf shoes that curl up at the toes or did you have to break those in?  Do you ever shine those or are they vinyl?

Trump buys people Florsheim shoes, which are owned by the same company as Nunn-Bush, but a step up.  Keep in mind that he is buying shoes for people who may be millionaires.  Trump’s shoe-gifting policy is interesting because the information goes both ways.

Trump asks the guy for his shoe size.  Some guys don’t know because the wife or assistant takes care of that.  That tells Trump something.

Trump is also setting the tone for the image he wants his people to project.  Pay attention to details like good shoes, and don’t get too fancy. 

One cabinet secretary has grumbled that he had to shelve his Louis Vuittons, according to people who heard the complaint.

Louis Vuitton is not the image Trump wants, and not wearing the Florsheims suggests the cabinet secretary is stubborn or can’t pick up on the message.  A smart person knows to wear Florsheims as long as he is part of Trump’s team.

One recipient said Trump had a stack of them in an office. A box read “Scott”—for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Scott Bessent is an openly gay billionaire.  He doesn’t need help buying shoes, but I bet he is wearing Florsheims now.

It’s clever.  Giving a gift is friendlier than issuing a directive, but it accomplishes the same thing.